“My current work is inspired by existential scale or the feeling of being small inside a huge world.”

Susan Ware is a photographer and encaustic artist based in Des Moines, Washinton. Her work is a dialog between immediacy and introspection, often revisiting the same moments from her photography in her encaustic work later in her studio. Through layered application of wax, ink, pigment, and shellac, she explores the contrast of experiential and emotional memory to the precision of the recorded image. Ware’s interest in weather and severe environments is evident in her work, often depicting storms and liminal landscapes. She luxuriates in dramatic shifts in texture, light, and atmosphere even in her macro photography where she reveals the luminous landscapes hidden in quiet gardens.